THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Thousands of people are expected to witness the official inauguration of Gambia’s new president, Adama Barrow, today in Banjul.
The event, to be attended by many African heads of state, also marks the country’s 52nd independence anniversary.
Barrow, who was first sworn in on 19 January in the Senegalese capital Dakar, is the third president in the history of independent Gambia.
Today’s ceremony, on a much larger scale, is deemed by Gambians as the proper inauguration of the new president.
The first one in Dakar was done in the shadow of a national crisis caused by a lengthy power struggle following last December’s election.
Former leader Yahya Jammeh was voted out at the polls but he refused to accept defeat and allow for a peaceful transition.
The strongman only agreed to step aside when ECOWAS leaders sent in troops to remove him by force.
He left for a new life in exile in Equatorial Guinea on 21 January, bringing his 22-year rule to a dramatic end.
The challenges awaiting President Barrow in the country’s third republic include restoring an ailing economy, establishing a culture of respect for human rights and cementing democratic governance, say analysts.
Ken Kamara
